Weakness
by KTarra
Summary: John's become her weakness.
1. Chapter 1

Weakness

Author's note: This is my first foray into Atlantis. I love SPARKY & SPANKY. Though I am not sure where the designations came from! BTW thanks to Oparu. Her story Unexpected, which is awesome by the way, gave the inspiration for this little diddy. It is intended as a one shot, but might be more if I get enough reviews. This is definitely Sparky so if you don't ship J & E you may want to leave now. So please R&R!

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She stood staring out over the waters surrounding Atlantis. In her mind swirled thoughts of the events of the last few days. Another mission that should have been easy; a cakewalk as John had said. However, as usual for AR-1, things did not go as planned. They had stepped through the gate right into a civil war. Apparently in the two weeks in between visits to MG3-P9X the tenuous peace between the two major factions had disintegrated completely and a bloody civil war had begun. They had been ambushed upon exiting the gate and spent the better part of three days trying to escape. 

The team had all suffered some pretty bad injuries. Ronan had been shot a couple of times but as usual it didn't slow him down all that much. He dragged Rodney back through the gate. Carson had reluctantly released Rodney to his quarters, as long as Rodney stayed off his broken leg and tried not to lift anything with the broken ribs he had also suffered. Teyla, for her part was still in the infirmary having been carried back through by John. She had a pretty serious concussion along with a several lacerations and contusions. Ironically John had suffered the fewest and least serious of the injuries. He had suffered a laceration above his left eye that required 20 stitches, and a dislocated shoulder.

Upon learning that all of them would recover completely, she left the infirmary as quickly as she could. She knew that Carson would keep her updated on their progress. That was three days ago. So far she had managed to avoid John. She knew from Carson's report that he had been released after being stitched up and his arm put in a sling.

She knew eventually that John would track her down. He always did. However, tonight was different. Tonight her whole perspective had changed. Seeing John come back this last time, injured and bleeding had forced her to accept something that she had been ignoring for a very long time. Like it or not, she was in love with one Colonel John Sheppard. Now her problem was what did she do about it?

"John's become my weakness." She said aloud to herself. She hated having a weakness. Always had, but if she could convince herself to be really honest with herself, he had been her weakness for some time. She just hadn't acknowledged it.

Elizabeth continued to stare out over the balcony. Her eyes drifted shut as she listened to the sounds of the waves below, willing the roar of the ocean to drown out her thoughts and her problems. However it couldn't drown out the problem of what to do about John. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't heard John enter the balcony a few moments before. She was also unaware that he had heard her confession a few moments before. Her words had affected him deeply. More to the point they had given him hope.

"Hey."

"John. I didn't hear the door."

"You were deep in thought. You ok?"

"I should be asking you that." She replied.

"I'm fine. Little bit of a headache but Carson gave me some meds for it, if it gets too bad. Shoulder hurts like hell, but at least it's not broken. So I'll live. So again, I ask, you ok?" He asked leaning up against the railing facing her.

"I don't know to be honest."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready too. It's just some things I've come to realize, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with it." She replied looking away from him.

He noticed her eyes were cloudy. Usually they were bright and clear. Tonight they were cloudy. Her body language screamed anxiety and worry. She was pretty wound up about something. Yet, he also knew that he couldn't push her to talk. Sensing that she really wanted to be left alone he decided to call it a night.

"Well, whenever you're ready. I think I'm going to head on to bed. "

She turned her head to look at him. A hint of smile pulling at her lips, "You're turning in early. Finally going to take Carson's advice?"

"Don't tell him that. Don't want him to think he's finally worn me down."

"It'll be our secret. Sleep well."

He stood up and paused a moment. He took her hand closest to him. He was taking a risk and he knew it but he had to see where this went. As he held her hand he looked into her eyes.

"You should get some sleep, Elizabeth. Don't stay out here too much longer ok?"

"Ok." She quietly replied. Still shocked he was holding her hand. Before he realized it he had bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek and then "You've always been my weakness. Goodnight, Lizbeth." He whispered and left the balcony.

The shock on her face was quite evident.

"Now, what the hell do I do?" she said to no one at all.

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This was meant to be a one shot but if I get enough reviews I may add more to it….please R&R!!! 


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, since everyone seemed to want more of this story and my muse has decided to come off strike I guess I will write some more. Oh BTW I don't own them, just like to play with them every now and then. This will pick a few months later, and in my world the episode "Sunday" just ABSOLUTELY DID NOT happen. So Carson will always be in my fics. Cannot believe they killed him off!!!!!!! They really better find a way to bring him back in the future. Anyway on with the story

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He looked out over the ocean below him, wishing he could lose himself in the sound of the waves. However, that was not to be. The thoughts running though his mind refused to be denied. He had come to a crossroads. He had to make a decision. Pick a path. He couldn't continue with the way things were.

Much to his disappointment, things with Elizabeth had pretty much gone back to the way they were. He chalked it up to her fear, just as much as his. They were comfortable with each other and the way things were. Neither wanted to mess up a great friendship, yet he didn't see how they could continue this way.

Not after the events of the last two weeks. Two weeks ago he had reluctantly agreed to let Elizabeth go off world with them. They were entering trade negotiations with the people of MG4-P9X. The civilization was comparable to Earth in the late 1800's. They were a highly agrarian society with growing technological advances. Everything had been going swimmingly until the celebratory dinner after the negotiations were completed. While his team and Elizabeth refrained from the rather potent drink that flowed freely, the locals did not. The party was going full swing, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Daran, the younger son of the leader, Zoran, had taken a keen interest in Elizabeth. He had made a point to sit with them during dinner and had kept her engaged in conversation throughout. John was not happy about the amount of attention he was paying to Elizabeth, but he seemed harmless enough. But looks can be deceiving as the saying goes. He lured Elizabeth away from the party with promises to show her some of the artifacts from his peoples past. John hadn't been keen on the idea, but Elizabeth was insistent that she would be fine.

She had no idea that Daran, had planned to kidnap her and sell her to the local slave trade. Apparently green eyes were a rarity among the peoples of MG4-P9X and buyers would pay highly for such a unique asset in a slave or concubine. Daran, they found out later actually did like Elizabeth and planned to sell her to one of the traders he owed money to. Apparently the man was very wealthy and wanted to expand his harem so to speak. He didn't intend her to become a slave or be harmed in any way. He had a rather large debt and selling Elizabeth would have taken care of it.

When John and the others discovered that Elizabeth had been taken, all hell broke loose. Daran made no excuse for what he had done. It was an acceptable practice among their people to buy and sell slaves for all manner of uses. They had conveniently hidden that fact from them during the negotiations.

John immediately declared the treaty null and informed them, that abducting their leader was an act of war, and that Atlantis would respond accordingly. Zoran had apologized and publicly humiliated his son for placing his personal problems before the good of their people. Daran was imprisoned until he revealed the name of the trader he had given Elizabeth too. Daran was not very forthcoming, until Zoran agreed to let John and Ronan 'speak' to him.

John and Ronan left the interview with the information they sought. Unfortunately, the trader had already left the planet, and they spent the next week and a half tracking the guy down. When they finally found him, he was less than willing to part with Elizabeth. Apparently, Elizabeth hadn't taken too kindly to his advances and he was in the process of breaking her will.

John gave Ronan 'the look' and the trader never knew what hit him. John, Ronan, and Teyla stepped over the man's unconscious body and went in search of Elizabeth. Fortunately, they had caught him as he was disembarking from his ship so it was a simple matter of searching his vessel. They had located her in a small cabin towards the back of the ship. She had been restrained and looked like hell. It had obviously been several days since she had had anything to eat or drink, and bore the marks of many assaults. John only prayed that she had not been raped too.

When John had approached Elizabeth she had been sleeping, and when he touched her arm, she came awake swinging.

"Elizabeth! It's me, John. You're ok." He had said. He had watched her eyes as it took a moment for her to recognize him and quit fighting. The moment she knew it was him, she tried to hug him but her arms were secured to the wall. Ronan had neatly taken care of that though by blasting the chains. Elizabeth had been unable to stand or walk so John had carried her back to their jumper. Rodney and Carson had been ordered to wait in the jumper, in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

Even though that had not been the case, they did not tarry long and were soon on their way back to Atlantis. John had tried to turn Elizabeth over to Carson, but she refused to let go of John for him to set her down. John had no choice but to sit with Elizabeth perched precariously in his lap.

Carson had immediately started checking her wounds and doing what he could to patch her up till the returned to Atlantis. Thankfully one of the injections that Carson had given her contained a mild sedative to help her relax, and she soon drifted off to sleep on John's shoulder. A medical team met them in the jumper bay and John was able to lay Elizabeth on the gurney without fuss from her and let Carson do what he was best at.

As it turned out Elizabeth looked worse than she actually was. She had lots of bruising, needed a few stitches here and there, some rest and food, and she would be fine in a few days.

That was four days ago, and John still hadn't had the courage to go down there and see her. He was afraid of what he would say. He didn't even know how to bring the subject up.

"How do I tell her I love her?" He said aloud.

"Well, generally, you just say it." A voice responded.

"Elizabeth! What are you doing out of the infirmary?"

"I promised Carson, I would go to my quarters and stay there for the next two days, working from my bed. "

"Carson was supposed to let me know when he released you. I wanted to be there to help you."

"I told him not too. I wanted to surprise you. Did you mean it?"

"What?"

"What you said before."

"Oh that. " He replied sheepishly looking at the ground.

She watched him for a moment, and then decided to take a risk of her own. "You said I was your weakness, and I guess you know that you're mine, so where does that leave us?" She asked her eyes searching his.

_To hell with it._ He thought. While aloud he said, "Right here." As he took her face in his hands and kissed her in a searing kiss that left her with no doubts about his feelings for her. After a few moments the need for air became paramount and they broke apart.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked breathing heavily.

"Absolutely." She replied just as out of breath. Then she yawned. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Carson said I was going to be tired for a week or two."

He didn't really want to let her go, but he knew she really did need to rest and reluctantly said, "You should get on to your quarters and get some rest."

"Come with me."

"What?" the shock evident on his face.

"Not for that. I'm not ready for that yet. I don't want to be alone. I want you to hold me. I keep telling myself this is real and I'm not going to wake up and find myself back there, but it's hard. It'll be easier if you're with me."

Her eyes were starting to tear up and he knew that her confession had cost her but he was glad she asked him for help. He bent his forehead to hers and whispered, "Lead the way. I'll be there when you wake up in the morning, and every morning after if you want me too."

She smiled and they left the balcony together.

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Ok there is the next installment what do you think? Please R&R if you want more! 


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